Les régions ultra-périphériques entre assimilation et différenciation
Christian Vitalien
The idea of a region beyond the periphery denotes a group of territories with different
constitutional statuses but which have in common the fact that they are a long way from
their national metropolis and from the European Community. The notion, which was
evoked in Declaration no. 26, adopted on 7 February 1992 in the context of the Final Act
of the Intergovernmental Conference held in Maastricht, has been incorporated into
Article 299-2 of the Treaty on European Union. Legal developments reveal, and this is
shown by the example of overseas departments, the tension which exists between the
need to manage the constraints which surround the integration of ‘non-European’spaces,
which implies an approach consistent with general objectives and, thus, harmonisation,
together with attention to the particularities which characterise the geographical,
economic and social situations of regional entities whose levels of developments require
a differentiated approach.
• LE COMPROMIS INITIAL
— Un texte à portée limitée
— volontarisme des institutions de la Communauté
• LE NOUVEAU CADRE DE DIFFÉRENCIATION : L’ARTICLE 299 § 2
— Un cadre formellement plus large et apparemment plus permissif
— Un cadre laissant cependant persister des difficultés d’application